Monday, February 28, 2011

My buddies Danielle and Jimmy are having a baby! I'm late posting this because my life is so busy right now that I can hardly sleep or form complete sentences, but I wanted to get it up because looking at baby stuff reminds me that there is more to life than grad school. Also it just makes me happy. They don't know the baby's sex, which made shopping for their shower last weekend all the more exciting. I considered getting practical things that will help D&J through their first year as parents but my biological clock fritzed out from the excitement of gender-neutral baby gifts and I ended up just buying a bunch of uber-hip baby shirts and a book that I kind of want to own myself. It is now impossible for me to go into American Apparel and not find something new that their baby needs. I'm insane. Here are some of my favorites.

Their New York shower (there was a Dallas one too back in December that I forgot to blog about) was beautiful! We had a lovely brunch at D's friend Kim's apartment, played a couple games and talked babies.
Danielle looked radiant!

Sigh. I'm so happy for my friends. The baby is due March 25th -- THE SAME DAY B WAS DUE! Maybe he or she will come a few days early and share the raddest birthday ever (March 21st) with my dude.

It occurred to me yesterday what a window into my heart Tumblr is. Whereas this is a record of my days, Tumblr is a record of my dreams, quirks, sensibilities and personality... it just takes a little more effort to interpret. I added a feed for it over there -->, if you're into that sort of thing. You know how important I think keeping a personal record is, but when you make it public it becomes more of a challenge to be honest. For me, that's the fun of creating online content. Gosh I love the internet.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

I'm not just throwing around the word "dreaming" (or these pictures, all taken over the last week) lightly here. It's so hard to stay engaged in the present lately because I'm so busy thinking about how and when I'll get to Paris, if my theater will ever actually be my theater, how much I'll miss NYC when I'm gone back to Texas and yet... how happy I'll be to lay in the grass and feel the sun on my face.

I keep going to the place in my heart that holds the little house full of books, the projection booth full of film, the expanding family and all the dreams of the future that I used to keep so closely guarded. Something has changed. For the first time ever I feel just on the verge of everything I never knew I wanted... or needed. Student loans and a thesis that won't write itself are no match for me! I've got dreams.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Regardless of your position on abortion, you have to be in complete shock that the House voted to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. As if women need another reminder of how little value is placed on our needs and rights! Aside from abortions, PP provides birth control, emergency contraception, pregnancy tests, prenatal care, HIV and STI testing/vaccines/treatment, and general health care and counseling for women. This is a vital service for women who don't have access to other means of health care. Yes, okay, it probably won't pass the Senate but still, this shouldn't even been a valid point of discussion. I will be rallying in NYC, and there are walks all over including Dallas, Austin and Salt Lake, so my friends should all go! The young, poor woman deserves the same rights as everyone else. I am raising a healthy son thanks to PP and know women whose lives were saved because they had access to abortions, treatment, birth control and/or prenatal care. We have to make our voices heard and speak up for our daughters who will need to protect themselves and take charge of their health. With everything that's been going on lately, I sincerely feel like the country is going crazy and worry about my children's future... but that's another discussion for another time. For now, won't you rally with me?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

In our film preservation class we used a beautiful Bolex to take test shots of each other on a fresh roll of 16mm Ektachrome film. We projected it in our next class and laughed at each other analyzed potential preservation issues. The film stock isn't the best (though I love it, especially when shot in natural light) and these were taken on my phone, but I still thought I'd share. Sam L., Sam O., Ashley, Me, June and Erik looking so avant-garde.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Last weekend I had brunch at VSpot {vegan noms. brooklyn.} two days in a row. First I met Danielle, my favorite brunch date, there to talk about life and her baby who will be here very soon. We strolled Park Slope and I was grateful for a local friendship that's not New York-centered, if that makes sense. The next morning I walked there in the rain with a handsome fellow vegetarian. I had a delicious tofu scramble and felt this new thing out.

Swinny and I went to FAO Schwarz to find her some Harry Potter gear for her so-themed 25th birthday party. We came out of the subway at Central Park and I remembered what snow looks like in Manhattan. Sigh.

I found a Barbie foosball table and flipped my chiz.

Our trip was successful and the Swinnz had her Potter Party.

The ladies of 2B were Harry, Rowena Ravenclaw and Hermione, respectively.

The rest of the week included concerts, tea dates and occasionally trying to not fail my last semester of grad school.

Also my roommates are hot. Yow.

It was a long, superbly satisfying week. Now I am sickish and confined mostly to bed, though my roommates and I are currently having Grammy-watching girl bonding time. I missed book club and a screening of Miss Representationin favor of bed, and Baz Luhrmann cancelled the appearance at which we were finally going to meet and our destinies were to ride toward each other on unicorns and the universe would explode... I can't really talk about it.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I had to talk him down last night. He's convinced his brain is broken and there's no hope for him. He peaked intellectually in 2nd grade and now it's all down hill. He cried and cried, saying he's lost his creative drive and isn't himself anymore. He thinks he needs to see a doctor who will teach him to be smart and creative again. I told him he hasn't changed but when life gets stressful and our brains have to think about so many big things, it becomes harder to focus. He didn't buy it. I told him to enjoy himself and be a kid and we would fix his brain when I'm back in Texas. Everything is okay when we're together because, frankly,I get him. Right now I'm reveling in life's little complexities. I'm really interested in the human qualities that connect us, especially to the people we're related to either biologically or, I don't know, metaphysically? Transcendentally? Drifting apart from and back to your closest friend, falling in love with a stranger, understanding another person in ways that can't be articulated. B's little meltdown has got me thinking about the things we unintentionally pass on to the people around us and the power we have to profoundly affect each others' lives. It's terrifying and awesome. Maybe it will help me be a better mother (...daughter, sister, friend, soul mate...) I guess all I'm saying is... I'm embracing it.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

I am a day late because we were busy dealing with life's complicationscelebrating, but it is the quarter century anniversary of the birth of my roommate and lifemate, The Great Swinnerton. My love for this woman knows no bounds. I bought her candy and made her breakfast. Please give her her propers, blog readers.

(P.S. that is one of my dad's MC shirts that I repurposed as a dress... ish thing.)

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

See that face up there? That's grad school face. The messy ponytail, the sallow/washed out complexion, the dark circles under the eyes, the unkempt eyebrows. It's all there. But, as I happen to be of a rather fantastic disposition lately, I am trying to remain as balanced as possible (the whole compartmentalizing trick -- it works!) and not be swallowed whole by my last semester. I've yet to figure out how sleep factors into that but I am at least doing my best to squeeze in some healthy extracurriculars such as:

dating (insert giggle)

writing letters (I promised some of you mail and you will get it)

yoga

movies

cooking

culture (else why live in this city?)

non-school reading

The last is easy to ignore, as I currently have a stack of five books to read for my thesis and that's just the beginning, but Meg Fee's book club has made it all the more appealing. I love her blog and have been meaning to meet her since I moved to this city, so I'm excited to get the chance and to remember how fun reading is.

Part of understanding me as a human is knowing that in 7th and 8th grade I was given a "job" in the library at my middle school. I spent so much time there (in fact, all of the time that I was not in class) that the librarian let me spend my reading period and half an hour after school checking in returned books. As payment I got to keep The Complete Works of William Shakespeare checked out and never had to return it. At the end of 8th grade she let me take it home and I still read from it all the time.

But you know how these things go, you're forced to read about metadata and copyright law and "How Video Works" and before long your brain can't function beyond the next episode of GLEE and a 140 character tweet. Thirteen-year-old me (let's be honest, pre-internet me) would be disappointed. So, I bought the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ($8 on Amazon if you'd like to join me) and am joining book club. Though the last one I was in ended badly when we were asked to read Twilight (I tried, I really did, but it killed my soul), I have high hopes already for this one. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the company, and I'm already enjoying the first book. It's a story about a book club formed to cope with the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands, and it's getting me psyched to be a part of a one!

Also, it feels pretty good to get in bed at night (even if it's excruciatingly late) and get wrapped into a book rather than the vortex of gmail/Twitter/Tumblr/Google Reader.